Bushmills Salmon and Whiskey Festival

Held each October in the village of Bushmills, County Antrim, this festival takes its name from two of the region's most distinctive products: the salmon caught along Northern Ireland's rivers and coast, and the whiskey distilled at the Old Bushmills Distillery, licensed since 1608 and widely recognised as the oldest working licensed distillery in the world. The combination gives the festival a genuinely local, product-specific identity rare among broader food-and-drink events.

Visitors can expect whiskey tastings drawing directly on Bushmills' centuries-old distilling tradition, alongside artisan food markets and salmon served in every conceivable form, from delicate smoked preparations to hearty sizzling barbecues. A wide range of fringe events runs alongside the core tastings, including live music, cooking demonstrations and foraging walks through the surrounding County Antrim countryside, giving the festival a broader sense of place beyond just the whiskey and fish themselves.

For visitors exploring Northern Ireland's Causeway Coast, home to the dramatic basalt columns of the Giant's Causeway just down the road, Bushmills' festival offers a fitting culinary counterpart — deeply local products, celebrated in the same village that has been producing them for centuries.